Sony talks — but doesn’t show — PlayStation 4

By Dan Gallagher

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Sony Corp. on Wednesday announced its new videogame console called the PlayStation 4, which will offer new capabilities like streaming games over the Internet and playing full console titles on a handheld device.

However, the Japanese electronics giant wrapped up the two-hour media event in New York City without ever actually showing the new console, which it plans to launch sometime this holiday season.

No price was given for the console, though analysts didn’t expect pricing data this early before the launch.

Sony’s Tokyo-listed shares traded 1.3% lower after the event wrapped despite having opened trade with gains. Rival console maker Nintendo Co. , by contrast, rose 1.7% on the Japanese exchange.

“That was a little disappointing, and by a little, I mean a lot,” IGN gaming magazine editor-in-chief Casey Lynch told MarketWatch about Sony’s decision not to show the console.

Lynch said, however, that the event did give gamers and investors a detailed look at the direction that Sony plans to go in.

The company spent much of the event talking about how the PS4 will not only enable more powerful games, but also connect easier to social platforms and mobile devices.

“I think that part of their strategy was to show off the experience, and to tell the story of the PS4,” Lynch said.

Among other features, the PlayStation 4 will offer cloud-based gaming through the Gaikai service that Sony acquired last year. This enables games to be played without a disk or requiring a download of a file from the Internet.

Sony also showed the new Dualshock 4 controller for the PS4, which will include the standard game controls, as well as a small touchpad.

But by not showing the console itself, Sony failed to quash the circulating rumor that the PlayStation 4 may not even include an optical drive — meaning all games would have to be streamed or downloaded to the device, thus wiping out the market for PlayStation game disks sold at retail outlets.

“They led a lot of people to conclude that there is no optical drive,” said Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities, who added that “if they get rid of the drive, they are dead.”

Otherwise, Pachter said he liked the games and demos shown at the event.

Sony’s own game studios are working on titles including a racing game called “Driveclub” and a new iteration of “Killzone” called “Shadow Fall.” Third-party developers such as Capcom, Square Enix and Ubisoft also showed off games they are building for the system.

Near the end of the event, Activision Blizzard announced that it would make its best-selling PC title “Diablo III” available for both the PS3 and PS4. The company also said the “Destiny” game, built by partner studio Bungie, will launch for both Sony consoles simultaneously, though no specific launch date was given.

Sony Announces PlayStation 4

By Ian Sherr

An attendee wears a head-mounted display as he plays a game on Sony's PlayStation 3 at the Tokyo Game Show in September.

Getty Images

NEW YORK—Sony Corp. moved to reinvent its PlayStation videogame console, demonstrating faster, graphics-rich hardware with new Internet-based features to counter stiff competition from the Web and mobile devices.

The Japanese electronics giant said the new PlayStation 4, announced at an invitation-only event in New York Wednesday, was designed to take advantage of new technologies to offer new ways for customers to play games while responding to new trends in gaming such as the popularity of smartphones and tablets.

Sony said it integrated a new technology called streaming or cloud gaming, which will allow customers to stream games from servers over the Web. It added a new controller designed with an integrated touchpad, as well as a new button dedicated to sharing game info.

“The consumer is changing us,” said Andrew House, head of Sony’s PlayStation division. “The living room is no longer the center of the PlayStation ecosystem, the gamer is.”

Sony also said it has added technology to allow gamers to upload gameplay footage to the Internet, as well as watch others. Sony said it will allow gamers to connect together using existing social networks. The system includes specialized mobile applications to let gamers share comments and watch one another as they play.

One of the features in Sony’s new streaming technology is the ability to play PlayStation 4 titles on its handheld videogame console, the PlayStation Vita, allowing gamers to continue game sessions while mobile, the company said.

Sony’s new device comes as the videogame industry has been grappling with dramatic shifts in consumer behavior. Since the last PlayStation was launched in 2006, mobile devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Samsung Electronic Co.’s Galaxy Tab have become go-to machines for a new swath of casual games that are either free or cost a few dollars.

As a result, sales of new games, consoles and accessories in U.S. retail stores have contracted every month for over a year, according to market researcher NPD Group.

“Since the launch of PlayStation 3, we’ve seen a proliferation of the number and types of devices people own,” said Mark Cerny, one of Sony’s head developers of the PlayStation 4.

The PlayStation 4 runs on chips from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which include multiple processors that run PC-style software and powerful graphics circuitry. In the prior device, Sony used a specialized chip that it developed along with International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba Corp. The hardware shift is designed to make it easier for programmers that develop games for PCs to make titles for the Sony device.